ENG 3U: (insert your last name here)-esque

Kafkaesque. Tarantinoesque. Burtonesque. These adjectives describe work that, in one way or another, reminds us of great creators. Tell a violent story with strange, interwoven plots, and you might be compared to Tarantino. Imbue your creative work with nightmarish commentary on the human experience, and readers might call you the next Kafka.

“Esque” means a creator has a unique voice. It resonates with the audience. It is distinctive, consistent, and personal. You “see” the creator or narrator in a work.

I wonder: if someone said that a creative piece was (insert your last name here)-esque, what qualities would it possess?

We will come back to that question later.

Today, we will begin by considering one exemplar from last Friday’s endeavours. I’d like you to briefly compare it to what your pairing produced. Your work doesn’t have to be the same, but it may be helpful to ask why it is different.

Next, I’d like each pod to lay claim to a piece of advice from one of eight directors listed here (Eight pods. Eight directors. This should be straightforward). I want you to turn their advice about finding your director’s voice into both a statement and question about finding your creative voice; we will synthesize these statements into a general list.

Let’s return to the question I posed earlier. If someone said that a creative piece was (insert your last name here)-esque, what qualities would it possess? Note that I haven’t said what kind of creative piece; any medium will do. Note, too, that you haven’t had many opportunities to fully explore your own voice in school (we will save that conversation for another day); thus, you might want to consider the kind of voice you’d like to have.

You have eight questions and statements garnered from some of the most distinctive voices on the planet. Let’s see what happens.